Dominican Republic First Impressions

We arrived in the Dominican Republic on August 12 and were greeted at the airport by our sponsor and an Embassy vehicle/driver. We had almost made it through customs without anyone noticing the cats, but willingly paid the equivalent of about $10 each once the DR Department of Ag got wind of their presence. Once we loaded up everything in the van we set off to our permanent housing (which was a nice surprise, because we'd been told we'd have to live in temporary quarters for nearly a month). We had nearly reached our apartment when we were jarringly initiated into the joys of driving in Santo Domingo: another driver crashed into the side of our vehicle. It seemed to happen in slow-motion - R was looking out the window and saw the vehicle coming toward us and assumed he would stop. Our driver muttered under his breath angrily and we pulled over. Insurance information was exchanged and we were on our way again in a matter of minutes. No one was injured - all we could do was shake our heads.

Our apartment is pretty large - three bedrooms, three and a half baths. It's in a nice area of town, but it takes about 20 minutes to drive to the Embassy in the morning (usually more than 30 minutes coming in the afternoon due to traffic). The Embassy allows me to pay for use of a motor pool vehicle and driver to travel to and from work until our car arrives, and since the car's not due until the first part of October, I'm taking them up on the offer. Even when we get our car I'm not sure I'll drive here. Traffic is certifiably crazy. Drivers make three lanes out of a one lane road, motorcycles weave in and out of traffic, and honking is the preferred method of communication. I'm a good driver, but I don't know if I have the guts to drive as aggressively as would be necessary to survive on the mean streets of SD.

R and I have been happily taking taxis to see a bit of the city on the weekends. The normal price to travel anywhere in the city is about 250 pesos (equivalent to a little less than six US dollars). We ventured to the Zona Colonial on our first foray and visited the first cathedral of the Americas (the Basilica Catedral Santa Maria de la Encarnacion):

The ceiling.

The next weekend we headed over to the Botanical Garden:

This was the day after Hurricane Erika - look at the size of that leaf!

Part of the Japanese Garden.

Look at the size of those roots, would ya!

We really enjoyed the Botanical Garden and plan to go back when the weather is a bit cooler. An annual pass is about $11.

And finally, Calvin and Seamus seem to be acclimating very well. They love to go out on the balcony and soak in the warm weather, but they also love to stalk us. Especially around dinner time.